Improvement in horse hay-rakes



3 Sheets-sheet 1..

W. P. & C. E. CLARK. Horse Hay-Rake.

No. 222,382. Patented Dec. 9,1379.

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Horse Hay-Rake.

No. 222,382. Patented Dec. 9, I879.

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Ho rse Hay-Rake.

No. 222,382. Patented Dec. 9, I879.

* 1 UNITED-STATES WILLIAM r. CLARK. AND cH nLns E. CLARK, or BELMONT,NEW YQ K,

IMPROVEMENTIN HORSE HAY-RAKES. I

Specification forming part of Letters'Patent No. 222,382, dated December9, 1879; application filed P February 19, 1 .879. i

Toall whomit may conoem: v Be it knownthat W6,WILLIAM PENDLETON CLARKand CHARLES ETHAN CLARK, of Belmont, county of Allegany, and State ofNew u York, have invented certain new and useful,

Improvements in Horse H y-Rakes, of which the following is aspecification. v

.- a Our present invention lies in? an improved form of clutching orautomatic lifting mechan ism, which connects the pivoted rake with therevolving axle of the wheels, by whichthe rake is automatically raised;to .dropthe collected hayat the desired moment; also, in animprovedconstruction ofthe pressure lever or f levers by which thelrak'e is helddown to the a work, and in an improved form of sockets, in Y which therake-teeth pivot, which embody a number of novel features, ashereinafter fully setforth, V In the annexed drawings, Figurel presentsa planview of ourimproved rake, the front portion of the thillsbeing'broken on; Fig.2 is a sectional elevation online X X of Fig.1,

a with the rake shown depressed, and Fig. 3 is t 7 similar view, withthe rake and rake-lifting mechanism in the raisedposition. Fig.4;is a" afront elevation of a. portion of the clutchvoper- 3 Fig. Sis an.enlargedplaniviewof .thefuldruhn block, in WhlClIthG pressureglever'pivots,show;

falls backafter bein graised;,

ber ofthe fram'e'ofithefmachine, which forms the fixedpart oftherak'e-liead, andruns'lp'arit allel with the axle,- as shown,beingprovided' [of the wheels;

j the timber D, and they arenconnected ata distanceinfront of the timberby "the cross-bars E which m fi frameofthe machine.

The rake-teeth are pivoted on the topof the hereinafter, described,and.'the teeth extend mounted on arms R H R, which are pivotedatingmechanism. ltigs, 5,16, and 7. give aplan view,and. side and endelevations-,respectively, 1 of tooth 'pivot-sockets-on an-,zenlarged;scale.

ing the elastic cushion socketed therein to receive theimpac't oftheleverwhenfthe rake J In the.'drawings,l) indie tesjthe witharms M,depending from each end*,:-in which theaxle is journaled close, to thehubs w I slotinaplate, r, in the head D, .1 The thi llsN N projectrigidly forwardfrom through short vertical slots in artransvers'e on thehead D, as shown, this being aboutjthe usual arrangement in hay-rakes, V

The central arm, H, which is of the form of a bell-crank lever, isconnected, as usual, with ahand-lever, also adapted to receive the pressure of the foot, as shown in Figs. 1, 2,and 3, by which the teeth may beraised orheld down to the work, and also with a device on the re volvingaxle, which may be clutched with the axle, at a the will of theoperator, to automati cally raise the teeth. These connections-are, ofcourse, also usual in hayrakes; butinf our case they are of improved andnovel construc=- tion, as will be now described. U The axle A A of thedriving-wheels O0 is divided, as. shown in Fig. 1, each wheel beingkeyed to an. independent half, vand tlie two halves being arranged inline with each other, with the ends closely approaching each other atthe center of the machine, asshown inFigl. y H At the approaching endsof the, halfiaxles adouble crank-arm, B, is loosely mountcd thereon,jointly on the end of each "halfins shown. The hubs of thecrankoneachsid'e thereof are formed with pron gs,xwhic en age; 3 "withcorresponding pron gson' one-h ,tootlied clutch, L L, which is. cacertain play back and forth upon axles." Close ,to these movable clcorresponding.half-clutches O 0 .keyed tothe respective halves ofrevolve therewith. It; will hence 1 by slidinglthe. loose halves of the,

engagementwith the fixedhalves willbecome coupled with the a e" Irevolve therewith. The clutche erated thus by the SI)1lllg.-ll'lll$ibol'ted atthe forward ends tob or; free ends being guided hori wardprolongation from that end;

grooves on thesaid clutches L J 1 in Figs. 1,2, and 3. These spring-armsare spread outward to move the clutches intoengagement by the togglesM,Figs.=1;and14, one link of which is actuated by the depression of theusual foot-lever j. Now, thejcrankBI is formed with a heavy protuberanceb, on one -,end,jformin g a counter-balance, wh h causes that end of thecrank, when not clutched with the axle, to gravitate so that thecrank-pin assumes an upright position, which is its normal or inactiveposition, as shown in Fig. 2. Now, this crank-pin is connected, by thechain 8, with the arm H of the pivoted rake-head, so that when the crankis clutched the crank revolves with the axle and lifts the rake, asshown in Fig. 3. It will be seen that when the toggles h t are spreadthe spring-arms g 9 become locked in the clutching position, so that thecrank continues to revolve while the clutches are thus engaged. Now, thejoint of the toggles h t is arranged in the path of the crank, so thatit makes but a partial revolution, sufficient to lift the rake-teeth tothe full height, when the protuberance b on the crank strikes thetoggles, as shown in Fig. 3, thus unlocking the same, causing thespringarms g and clutches L L to spring back to their originaldisengaged position, as shown in Fig. 1, thus allowing the rake-teeth toimmediately fall back to the ground, the crank at the same timegravitating into its normal inactive position, as shown in Fig. 2.

It will be observed that this clutching and automatic lifting mechanismis very effective and complete, and answers all requirements of thisclass of machines. It will be seen that the arrangement of clutches withthe divided axle is such that the crank will be revolved and therake-teeth lifted by the action of either of the driving-wheelsseparately or both together. Hence the lifting action will be performedwhen the machine is in the act of turnin g a corner when one wheel isstanding stationary or moving backward, as well as when both wheels areuniformly advancing. As the clutches are of ratchet form, and are heldinto engagement by the elastic pressure of the springs g, the teeth willslip when the machine is backed, without affecting the liftingmechanism, and when the machine is going forward the clutch of the wheelwhich is traveling the faster will always govern the movement of thelifting-crank, the other clutch slipping without any interference withthe lifting action of the crank. The actuatingarm H of the pivoted rakeis also connected, as usual, with the hand-lever f, by which the rakemay be raised by hand when desired. This hand-lever is usually anelbowlever, as shown, and is pivoted at its angle between the jaws of afulcrum-block, K, Figs. 2, 3, and 8, which is bolted on the bar E. Theshort bent arm I) of this lever is jointed to a connecting-rod, a, whichis coupled at its opposite end to the arm H, as shown. A number ofconnecting-holes are formed in the arm H for the attachment of the chain8 and rod a, to make the connection at any desired adjustment, as willbe understood.

Now, the chief feature of novelty in our improved lifting and depressinglever mechanism consists in the compound toggle links or levers e d. Onelink, 0, of the toggles pivots to the end of the connecting-rod in frontof the point where the short arm I) of the lever I) f joints thereto,while. the other link, d, pivots to the long arm f of the lever close tothe fulcrum thereof, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the end of thislink, at or near the joint of the toggle, is adapted as a pedal toreceive the pressure of the drivers foot, as shown.

It will be observed from Fig. 2 that when the teeth. are depressed thetoggles e d, lever bf, and rod a are in such position that the strain onthe rake transmitted through the rod 11 comes almost in a line with theseveral ful cra or pivot-points, so that a very easy pressure of the toeon the pedal of the toggles e (1 serves to keep the rake-teeth held downto the work with great leverage, thus forming a very simple and powerfulcontrivance for this pnrpose.

The fulcrum-block k, shown best in Figs. 2, 3. and 8,) in which the everbf pivots, is provided with a socket between the pivoting-jaws and infront of the lever, formed preferably with dovetailed sides, in which anelastic cushion, t, Fig. 8, of rubber or leather is inserted. Thiscushion receives the impact of the lever on its sudden return movement,when the rake quickly falls back after being raised, and thus preventsany injurious shock or jar to the machine, and this device forms anotherfeature of our invention.

The sockets in which the teeth are pivoted are of novel formation, andare made in sections, as shown in Fig. 1, one section containing twoteeth, as shown enlarged in Figs. 5, 6, and 7.

The sockets consist, as shown, of a tubular sleeve, m, fixed on asustaining base or lugs, 19, by which the socket is bolted to the fixedhead D, as shown, spurs n being cast on the under side of the base orlugs, which become embedded in the head D, and serve to hold the socketsmore firmly in position.

The pivoted ends of .the rake-teeth are bent at right angles to thebody, as usual, the bend being equal to the distance between theteeth,and the bent portion isinserted in the'bore of the sleevethrongli-lateralopenin gs therein, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6,*which alsopermit the body of the toothto project, and admit the free pivotalmovements thereof, as will be understood.

The bent or pivotal'ends of the teeth are in-- closed in the tubularslceve, as shown, with the end of one pivotagainst the angle of thenext, and the several sections or sockets are arranged end to end,inlongitudinal series, on the timber D, as shown in Fig. 1, so thatthefixed position of oneprevents the removal 'or' lateral displacement ofthe teeth in the other, as will be understood. The sockets thus formedare made in onepiece of cast-iron, and, as may be observed, are verysimpleandcompact, and perfect in their action.

We have shown a double crank and a-double arrangement of clutches inconnection with a axle, without necessarilydeparting from the scope ofthis part of our invention, but at the same time the double arrangementshown is entirely preferable. r

What we claim as our invention is- '1. The combination, in ahay-rake, ofa fixed rake-head, a pivoted rake or series of pivoted rake-teeth, anindependent revolving axle provided with a loose crank connected to therake, and with clutches arranged to couple the crank with the axle,together with the locking spreadingtoggles h i, and spring-arms g g,substantially as herein, shown and described. 1

2. In a hay-rake, in combination with the rake-operating lever b f,andconnecting-rod a, the toggles e d, arranged and operating substantiallyas herein shown and described.

3. In combination with rake-teeth having their pivotal ends bent atright angles, a toothholder or socket formed of metallic tubularsections, adapted to be fixed at their base on the rake-frame, and'formed with lateral openin gs by which the tooth-pivots may be insertedin thetubular bore of the sockets, and through which the working endsplay, the said Take teeth being inserted in the said sockets with theend of one pivot against the angle of the next, while the sockets arearranged in longitudinal series end to end on the rake-frame,

so that the position of one prevents the re-

